Heroine In Heels is a top 10 London lifestyle blog aimed at the modern day woman. Covering things to do in London, restaurant reviews, hotels as well as where to go in the world when you want to escape London

Heroine In Heels is a top 10 London lifestyle blog aimed at the modern day woman. Covering things to do in London, restaurant reviews, hotels as well as where to go in the world when you want to escape London

Does anyone else have a London bucket list (or insert your city instead) ? When I moved to London nearly 6 years ago I wrote a list in the back of my Filofax (RIP) of all the London things I wanted to do. I found it about a year ago and it was amazing how many things I had managed to tick off. One of those things was to go to Annabel’s. If you don’t know, Annabel’s is a London institution. It’s a private members club that is notoriously hard to get into and is famed for being the hangout of the rich and famous. It was one of those places that I just wanted to see once. So let me tell you I was ecstatic when I received an invite from Laurent-Perrier to come join them for afternoon tea at Annabel’s to celebrate the launch of their new Cuvée Rose Jeroboam.

It's been quite a while since I've been to a supper club. When I first moved to London back in 2013, it was all the rage to go to supper clubs. One of favourites is still the amazing White Room Supper and so when I received a lovely email to ask if I'd like to come down to an East African supper club by The Culinary Discovery Club and Colline’s Kitchen in partnership with Yellow Zebra, I couldn't resist. Plus it meant I had a legitimate excuse to leave my desk at a reasonable hour for once.

I love to travel, to explore and to discover knew places. I try to away a fair few times in a year, but it can be difficult not only to get the time off work, but also to find people to go with. See, even though I'm in a long term relationship, my other half just doesn't have the travel bug I do. I love him dearly but I wish he wasn't such a workaholic sometimes.

I'd read about group tours before but to be honest was always a bit worried about joining a trip with a bunch of complete strangers. What if I didn't get on with anyone, what if everyone came with a partner and I was a spare wheel? Well luck would have it when last year my lovely friends Claire and Laura from the amazing travel blog, Twins That Travel launched their own tours with Intrepid. It was the perfect middle ground. A tour group but with at least 2 people I knew going! Plus knowing they were bloggers too meant I know they'd been keen for a good photo session too!

Their first tour was to Morocco and I couldn't have been more excited for it. The Medina, the desert, all the colours, sounds and smells. It was going to be glorious.

Having spent a couple of days in the Marrakesh which was amazing, but sadly I lost all the photos from Marrakesh as my SD are decided to corrupt as we were leaving we moved on and headed to the desert to spend 2 days in a luxury desert camp. Because I don't have any photos from Marrakesh I thought I'd leave that blog post as its so hard to tell a story without photos. Maybe one day I'll return.

But for now, let me take you to a very special place indeed.

I'd had my birthday with my boyfriend over at the St James Hotel and Club, where I'd been pampered, and drank and ate till I collapsed in a heap. Well for my birthday with friends I was pretty much doing the same thing all over again. But this time with a little more classical Englishness- Afternoon Tea.

If you are a seasoned reader of Heroine In Heels, you'll know I adore the Four Seasons as a brand. I've been countless times to the one at Park Lane, as well as Hampshire and as of last night, the new for 2017 one at Trinity Square here in London. It's a brand I think that has perfected refined luxury with impeccable service, yet still maintains a relaxed and accessible nature to it. Many people criticise bloggers for hopping from one place to another and saying something is amazing only never to speak of it again. Well I'd like think I'd shown you that the Four Seasons is a brand I genuinely (not that other things on this log aren't genuine) love. Which is why I decided to head back and have their Afternoon Tea for my birthday.

I was due to meet Angie and Lauren, but sadly Lauren who works as a lawyer just couldn't escape the office in time (She works so damn hard) so it was just me and Angie. Well more champagne for us I guess.

The afternoon is currently called A Journey Through British Summertime although this is due to change very soon. It's created by Executive Pastry Chef, David Oliver and each component is based on a classic British event or idea.

Out came the cake stand in all it's shining glory. My first reaction though was "where's the scones?!" I nearly had a heart attack thinking there wasn't any! But fear not, they bring them out when the waiters notice you are done with the sandwiches so they are warm and fresh. They think if everything... even if I don't.

So the first order of the day is of course the sandwiches. I immediately dived into the smoked salmon with caper, tarragon and asparagus butter as I am a smoked salmon fiend. I think I said in my last post about me eating it everyday day for breakfast. Then of course in true Four Seasons style, simple sliced beef is no good, instead its the one and only Wagyu salt beef. Personally I love the classic Cheddar and pickle. There is just something so satisfying about a cheese and pickle sandwich.

The sandwiches were lovely and fresh, even at post 6pm, the were freshly made to order. Something that sounds pretty simple, but I've had my fair share of crispy, dry bread at some big name hotels.

But then it was onto my favourite section of afternoon tea. Scones. Oh Lordy, scones are just the best thing ever. Layer up that cream and jam- and yes in that order- nice and thick and oh it's just so satisfying.

Then finally it was the cakes. Beautiful, intricate cakes made to reflect the very best of British summertime.

Funnily enough I guessed the green semi-sphere one right away- Goodwood. It was a peach and ginger mousse with red current coulis and crunchy pistachio which was my favourite. I love ginger in desserts and pistachios are my second favourite nut after pecans.

The most obvious one had to be the tennis ball of Wimbledon. A mixture of vanilla mousse and strawberry. Sweet and light, it was nice to see the vanilla actually coming through as you'll know, so many vanilla flavourings are... Lacking to say the least.

But the cutest award goes to the gorgeous picnic basket made from cherry and liquorice and choux pastry. I was just amazed at the detail! Angie was a little hesitant about liquorish but I knew it would be good. Liquorish the sugary candy isn't great. But really fresh liquorish is delicious. I have it with mint in my tea at night and it's the most calming, relaxing flavour.

Then we had an apricot and lavender tart with orange blossom and yogurt cream which represented the Chelsea flower show. This was gorgeous and sweet. The tang of the strawberries against the soft lavender was such an elegant flavour.

Afternoon tea is a long drawn out affair, and we certainly kept to that. I think I lost count of how many glasses of champagne we had (and not much tea to be honest) but as the sun set we decided to head out onto the terrace for a few more drinks.

And unexpectedly they brought out a little happy birthday platter of macarons and Chocolate. Just one of the many reasons I love the brand, they do little personal touches that for me make it.

So that's my 26th birthday wrapped up. Another year older, definitely not wiser. But next up is Angie's birthday in November. Where shall we go for hers?

Make sure you check out the Four Seasons, I promise you, you won't regret it.

After the royal wedding this weekend, I think most people will agree in that we are all feeling a little bit more British. And what is a bloody brilliant British tradition? Afternoon tea.

Funnily enough, sticking with the royal wedding theme, I headed to The Athenaeum hotel which is a hotel literally across the street from Green Park where Buckingham Palace sits. It's less than a 10 minute walk door to door.

A name in the London restaurant scene may have heard of dozens of times is the Galvin Brothers. Famed for their high end French restaurants such as Window's and La Chapelle, they have recently moved into more British cuisine and never more evident with their afternoon at The Athenaeum.

The tea is hosted in their garden room which is a small but elegant downstairs bar, but what is quite impressive is their "living wall" which gives a feel of a garden terrace without the noice or cold that that could bring in central London.

We ordered the Royal Afternoon Tea (come on we had to!) and soon it arrived filling the table.

The salmon and cream cheese was delicious, although I'm slightly confused as to why there was only one and not two when it's a two person tea. The coronation chicken was also perfect and a standout sandwich of the set.

Then of course came the scones. Now how do you put your jam and cream on? Because let me tell you seeing as we are on the subject of Royals. The Queen puts her cream on first, and so I think thats the true confirmation there eh?

All the jams here also come from Royal Warrant Holders, making this a truly regal experience.

Finally the cakes arrived. Now I will say, some were good, others were not to my liking. The giant macaron was fantastic, and baked and flavoured so ell. Also the chocolate orange tartlet was delicious. However the eclair and the opera cake, I found too mousse-y and sickly for my liking.

I don't know about you, but I learnt to drive out of pure practicality. When you live in London you don't really think about driving as there is always a bus or a tube just a stone's throw away. But, when I moved out of central London 2 years ago to the commuter belt, I realised that I really needed to learn to drive simply just to get around. Driving for me had always been about necessity, and so I never really thought about going for just a nice drive. Now I realise, living in Oxfordshire, that there's a whole beautiful world in the UK just waiting to be explored.

I still remember a time when working out just wasn't that cool, well, especially for women. A couple of friends might have purchased a gym membership but we'd always joke that it hadn't been touched in years. Those were the days when everyone was asking "Does my bum look big in this?" and hope that the answer was no.

Yet here we are in the golden age of fitness and isn't it fantastic? I've really fell in love with working out and the gym in the last few years, but trust me, it wasn't always like that. In fact I used to be pretty unfit. I remember when I was an intern and after another day at the office I for some reason decided I wanted to challenge myself and out of nowhere booked my place for The Great North Run which if you don't know is a half marathon! My first day of training I put on my iPod (showing my age now) and went for a run... I couldn't even run to the end of one song! I am pleased to say after many months of training I managed to run the entire race without stopping in a respectable 2:19.

I've never really been concerned with a new year. It just seems like any other month really to me. However 2019 feels a little different to me this time. It feels like the year I could actually do something. 2018 was a great year for me and it will be hard to top it. After years of wondering what I really wanted to do with my career I finally found what I really enjoyed and when my boyfriend asked me for the millionth time what I wanted to do and what my 5 year goal was, for the first time, I actually had an answer. In 2018 I gained 4 professional certifications and got offered a job in the career that I wanted.

But it's 2019 that I started by new career, and having been their 1 month now I have a good feeling about it and feel like I can achieve a lot this year.

So I thought it would be good to put down a sort of what I want to achieve in 2019 but also what you can expect from me.

After a good reaction to my previous Instagram city guide (To Rome) I thought I'd continue the series with a new city that I recently visited; Budapest.

I visited Budapest right at the beginning of December which is a great time to go, albeit a cold time! There's plenty of Christmas activities on, including the famous markets, but Budapest is great any time of the year as there's a rich history and culture to explore.

Of course though, in the age of social media, we all want to know where the best Instagram spots are, so here are my top 6 most instagrammable locations in Budapest, all vetted and taken by me, and like last time, I'll tell you exactly where the shot was taken and at what time of day.

In the mean time why not follow me on Instagram to get more location inspiration.

Ok let's dive in...

In January it will have been 3 years ago that I embarked on a slightly crazy trip to the Artic Circle. In the name of Charity I trekked across the very top of Sweden for 5 days with a motley crew of dogs, no electricity or running water and one night, sleeping in an igloo! Needless to say, my experience of Sweden is probably not your average one! So, with 3 years having passed it was about time see a more normal aide of Sweden and actually experience what Sweden has to offer rather than trying not to freeze to death.

Rather than visit Stockholm, I headed to the west of Sweden for a little 4 day adventure, starting in the totally unexpectedly beautiful Marstrand.

Being a kid was amazing. Running around the park, swinging from trees, grazed knees and muddy hands. Then there were the birthday par...

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Laura

Hi, I'm Laura, a Cloud computing engineer, blogger by night, living the girl boss dream here in London. You'll find me either sipping on a cocktail in the latest London bar, chowing down on some amazing food or when I can, exploring the rest of the world... all in good heels of course!